Rifle



Se t, 20 1949.

A. BLANTON El AL RIFLE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I v Filed 001. 30, 1946 Sept,20, 1949.

A. BLANTON El AL RIFLE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Octr 30, 1946 Aiiarne y.

Patented Sept. 20, 1949 RIFLE Albert Blanton, Wallins Creek, Oscar H.Howard, Harlan, and Edgar E. Howard, Loyall, Ky.

ApplicationOctober 30, 1946, Serial No. 706,630

3 Claims.

1 V This invention relates to rifles and more par-. ticularly to theconstruction of gun stocks therefor, wherein a large amount ofammunition may be stored in readiness for reloading the gun with a loadof shells several times without supplying the shells manuallyfrom theoutside for each reloading.

The object of this invention is to provide a large capacity ofammunition in the gun stock of a rifle in such manner that the riflecharging tube may be reloaded several times with this reserve supply.

Another object is to provide a multi-chambered storage magazine in thegun stock of a rifle and means to selectively transfer the load from anyone of said chambers to the shell feedingchamber of the gun. 7

Another object is to provide means in a gun stock to reload the shellfeeding chamber, of said gun several times from a reserve supplyin saidgun stock with one recharging of said gun stock.

Another object is to provide means in a gun stock for storing severaltubes full of ammunition, and for transferring one tube full into theshell feeding tube of said gun, when recharging thereof is necessary.

A further object is to provide a shell bore through the shoulder rest ofa gun stock into the breech loading chamber, provide this bore with theusual shell and spring retaining tube adaptable for locking therein inoperative position, and a second larger bore through the shoulder restfor a rotatably mounted magazine, having a series of annularly arrangedtubular chambers, and means for transferring a load of shellsselectively from any one of said chambers to said shell bore when saidtube is withdrawn.

A further object is to construct'a gun stock as defined above whereinthe magazine is rotatable by means of an indicator knob, showing whichof the chambers and when it is in position for transferring its load tothe shell tube.

A further object is to construct a gun stock as set forth above whereinthe outer end of said magazine is closed off except for a small openingfor registry with any one of said tubular chambers, which opening iscontrolledby a oneway spring pressed valve to pass shells into andretain them in said chamber in the magazine;

.A further object is to construct a gun stock as above, wherein theinner end of said magazine is provided with a normally closed valve andpassage to said shell bore in registry with any one of said tubularchambers which may .be turned to it, and manual means operable from theoutside of said gun stock for opening said valve.-

Other and more specific objects of this invention will become apparentin the following de-,. tailed description taken in connection with theaccompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 shows the gun stock of a rifle partially in section to show thearrangement of parts constructed to illustrate a. preferred form of theinvention,

Figure 2 is a shoulder rest end view of this gun stock,

Figure 3 is a section taken along the line 33 in Figure 1, M r

Figure 4 is a section taken at 44 of Figure 1,

Figure 5 is another view of said gun stock partially in section to showthe shell feeding tube partially inserted after a load of shells hasbeen transferred from one of the magazine chambers to the shell bore,and

Figure 6 is a partial sectional View of the juncture of passages takenalong the line 6 6 of Figure 5.

Referring now to the drawings, the gun stock I of rifle 2 is fitted witha shoulder rest portion 3 and is provided with a straight shell bore 4extending through the shoulder rest and into the breech loading chamber5. The shoulder rest portion may be fixed to the end of the gun stock asby screws 6, whose heads I are set into the shoulder rest to provide asmooth surface.

A shell feeding tube 8 having a feed spring 9 therein, is adaptable forinsertion and removal in said bore 4, and has a lock means If) forlooking it in operative position, as shown in Figure 1. Obviously, ifthe shell bore is loaded with shells they will extend inside the tube 8and compress the feed spring 9 so that the spring will feed them intothe breech loading chamber 5 in accordance with removal of shellstherefrom for firing. The outer end of the tube 8 is provided with agrip portion H for manual insertion or removal and for turning said tubeinto locked or unlocked position. This grip portion II is set in acountersunk space i 2 in the surface of the shoulder rest portion sothat the grip portion will be flush with said surface when the tube isin operative position and so that it mav be readily gripped while insaid space.

Alongside and below the shell bore 4 is' a larger bore I3 extending fromthe shoulder rest to about half the length of the tube bore 4, where itis connected to bore 4 by a short curved bore M for passing shells intobore 4 from a magazine (i) in the large bore l3, as will be hereinaftermore fully described. This large bore has a fourchambered magazinerotatabl mounted therein by means of shaft I5 integral therewith andmounted in bearing l6 in the gun stock at its inner end and in bearingI! in the shoulder rest portion at its outer end. The chambers 18 of themagazine are tubular in form and are annularly arranged about shaft I 5.Each chamber has substantially the same capacity as the shell bore 4 andshell feeding tube 8, so that the magazine will hold four reloadings inreserve for the feed tube 8, which may be filled to begin with,thusproviding enough ammunition thatmay be placed in the gun stock atone time to supply five times 1;;

as many shells as one normal loading of a gun not having such reservemagazine. w

A fiat oscillatable valve plate I9 is rotatably mounted on shaft l5 andvhas an opening 2% therein for registry with the curved bore it, so asto provide a passage for the shells in a magazine chamber I 8 into saidcurved bore. This plate is normally closed by spring 2| drawing link 22downwardly to turn the plate 19 through the crank connection 23. Whenthe push button 213 is pressed in against this spring 2| the plate isturned into the open valve position shown in Figure 4. V

The shaft l5 has an indicator knob 25 fixed to its outer end and isformed as shown in Figure 2 to indicate the relative positions of thechambers l8 with respect to the curved bore l l, as well as to preventthe insertion of shells through the inlet check valve 26 unless oneofthe chambers it is in registry with this valve. The inlet check valveis spring-pressed detent beveled on the outer side so that it willreadily open upon-being pressed b the nose of a shell being inserted, asmay be seen in Figure '5. This valve 26 and the curved bore M are solocated with respect to the magazine that when the valve is registeredwith a chamber It, the bore '16 is inregistry with the opposite chamber18;

The knob 25 is also set in a countersunk space 2] in the shoulder restsimilar to ,the space l2 t pr ven p oje i th no fr m t e surface of theshoulder rest.

In the operation of the present device, to f ll the gun to capacity,with the muzzle of the gun lowered, the chambers I B are all filledbyinsjertlon of shells, nose first, through the heck valve until nochamber will admit another shell. The shell jbore may be filled with themaximum number of shells it will accommodate with the tube 8 ins t Ttube is t n i se te and locked by turning so that the lock pin' will,enter the arcuate groove of the lock and be held in place by thereaction of the feed spring Q.

When the shells in the feed tube have been used up, in order to rechargethe shell feeding tube, it is merely necessary to withdraw this tubepartially to clear the passage l4, holding the muzzle lowered, and seethat one of the chambers l 8 is lined up with this passage. Then press,push button 24 to open the control valve and allow the shells in thischamber 18 to pass through the passage or curved bore .515 into theshell bore 4. The tube 8 may .then be pushed back into its operativeposition and looked as already d s bedlh un is new reeasedanother'tube-full of shells to be used-up,- where upon anotherreloading maybe similarly obtained by using another chamber @118. Thisreloading process may the repeated two more times, using the remainingtwo full chambers l8 respectively, before a new supply of ammunitionwill be required.

Thus a means has been provided by this device to increase the capacityof a rifle magazine fivefold. Obviously, instead of four magazinechambers, any other suitable number of chambers may be used and otherobvious modifications in form and arrangeln nt of parts ma be made inthis device without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention, as defined in the appended claims.

In addition to the increased ammunition capacity made possible by theinvention as aboveindicated, the structures which provide this resultpresent 'a number of additional and Very important advantages toothstructurally and operationally. These are referred to in detail, asfollows:

A most important advantage is due to the location of the secondarymagazine element I8-relative to the-primary magazine tube'--the primarytube is located above the secondary magazine. This not only permits thetube 8 to be positioned in practical alinement with the shell bore i andwith the breech-loading chamber 5, thus assuring the feeding of theammunition shells from the primary tube :8 under the most efiicientconditions, but provides for storage of shells in the secondary magazineand the delivery of shells therefrom, under increased efiiciency andwith greater safety. This is due to a number of conditions that arepresent during the loading of the gun and during its firing.

The location of the secondary magazine below the primary magazine makesit'necessary tor the shells from the former to reach the bore '4 bymoving in an upwarddirection, this being-indicated by the form anddirection of channel I 3. This direction of length of channel I l is notdisadvantageous during re-loading of "bore since the gun is held withthe muzzle lowered at such time, so that the shells will readily pass omthe'se nda y m gazin n he e 12v gravity. However, the gun is heldapproximately horizontal when being fired, so that movement of shellsthrough the ehannel I l at such time must be upwardly and opposed togravity. Since the jarsand the like whiehlfoijm fea tlensto the firingof the gun can be active in disturbing positions of controlling partsofthe'structure, it can beunderstood that the particularioc'ation of thesecondary magazine whieh requires ,shell move. ment in a d irection',opposing ,gravity' is especially advantageous through the ,Iact that even should the controlling devices be shifted so as toexposethe ,channel to the shells, the latter would not be discharged into theprimary magazine path.

Another advantage oflthe present structure is due .to the .fact that theprimary magazine, while open at its inner .end to ,the ,shell .bore, hasthe wall of the tube itself imperforate, although the tube is of alength to extend forwardly of the opening connection.betweenchannel hiand shell bore 4 for an extendeddistance. Because of this the wall ofthe tube provides a positive closure against .the passage .of shellsfrom the channel to the bore 4 ,whenever .the tube is in its insertedposition. It also permits the use of ,the shell,- feeding means, such asspring :9, with the latter capable of ejectingall of-the shells fromthe-tube. If the wall ofthe tube carried an opening to register with.the channel L-the springwould'be limitedto' activity in rear of suchopening in order that shells being transferred from the secondarymagazinewould be delivered in advance of the spring. Due to theseconditions the tube 8 must be withdrawn for a distance sufiicient tocause its expanded spring to clear the rear end of the opening fromchannel [4, but inasmuch as the transfer takes place during periods whenthe gun'is not being fired, this need for temporarily withdrawing thetube and its return after the transfer is completed, provides nomaterial disadvantage. And since the tube is mounted above the secondarymagazine, it is located at such height as to practically be axiallyalined with shell bore 4, and thus capable of the extended withdrawingand returning movements without afiecting the operability of theassembly.

These conditions greatly simplify the structural details of theassembly. For instance, the body of the secondary magazine l8 may haveits tubes open-ended, with the plate shutter l9 forming the only elementrequired to control the discharge of the shells from either of thebarrels of the magazine. As indicated above the shutter carries thesingle opening which normally is located in a side zone of the magazinezone, the right side in Fig. 4, where it would be alined with the barrell8 positioned at such side. Such normal location of opening 20, however,would not be detrimental, due to the fact that channel I4 is alined withthe top barrel of the magazine and this would be closed by the shutterin such normal position. As indicated in Fig. 4, pressure on button 24rocks the shutter to place opening 20 in alinement with the top barreland channel l4, thus opening communication between the barrel andchannel. As is apparent, the forward wall of the opening in which theshutter is mounted will form a barrier against the movement of shellsfrom the magazine through opening 20 at all times excepting when theopening is alined with the upper barrel, thus preventing escape ofshells through the opening 20 except under the conditions pointed out,although the opening is permanently exposed at the front of themagazine. As a result, the shutter mechanism is of simple type.

And, as will be understood, the arrangement of the parts at the rear ofthe stock may also be greatly simplified. Since the primary magazine 8has inperforate side walls, there is no need for controlling theposition of a hidden opening, so that a simple locking structure, suchas the keyhole structure shown, may serve to anchor such magazine inposition. And a simple end closure arrangement for the rear open ends ofthe secondary magazine is employed, with the arrangement including theyieldable closure 26 utilized in loading the secondary magazine, shaft I5 and operating knob being also of simple type. Obviously the open-endedmagazine body is of simple construction. As a result, the entireassemblage can be produced at comparatively low cost, due to thesimplified structures which provide the eflicient assemblage as anentirety.

What is claimed as new is:

1. In magazine-equipped gun assemblages, wherein a primary magazinesupplies the shells to and into the breech-loading chamber of the gunfor individual firing of the shells, and wherein a secondary magazine isoperative to supply a stock of shells to primary magazine activity atwill to thereby increase the maximum ammunition capacity of the gun, anassemblage of such 6 type having itsprimary magazine of tubular formwith its tube wall imperforate and with the tube substantially axiallyalined with the shell bore leading to the breech loading chamber, saidtube havin a normal shell-advancing spring operative:

to feed the shells successively from the magazine to the breech-loadingchamber, said tube being located with a gun-stock bore, and a secondarymagazine assembly positioned below and spaced from the primary magazineand extending in substantial parallelism with and of less length thanthe primary magazine, said secondary magazine having at least oneopen-ended container dimensioned to carry a plurality of shells, acontrollable shutter mechanism at the advance end of the secondarymagazine and operative at will to permit discharge of thecontainer-carried shells en bloc through the advance end of thecontainer, the gun stock having an upwardly extending connecting channelfor the movement of shells from said container to said tube bore, saidprimary magazine normally overlying and segregating said connectingchannel from the bore and. being withdrawable for a distance sufficientto open communication between the connecting channel and bore in advanceof the advance end of the tube and its content, whereby lowering of themuzzle end of the gun to place the connecting channel advancingdirection of length as inclined downwardly relative to a horizontalplane and in presence of the withdrawn primary magazine tube togetherwith the opening of communication between the container of the secondarymagazine and the connecting channel permits feeding the complete shellcontent of the container into the tube bore successively and bygravitation with the transferred shells positioned to become areplenished primary magazine charge when such magazine tube is restoredto its normal position, the body of the secondary magazine being in theform of an element rotatable about a shaft axis, with the elementcarrying a plurality of individual open-ended containers of equal lengthpositioned about such axis, the position of the shaft being such thatthe discharge end of the upper container of the series is axially alinedwith the entrance end to the connecting channel, the shutter mechanismcomprising a plate overlying the advance open ends of the series ofcontainers, said plate having an opening dimensioned to expose the openend of a single container, the mechanism including an actuating memberoperative to move the plate arcuately, said member having a projectingend for manual movement of the member in one direction and carrying aspring for moving the member in the opposite direction with the springnormally active to retain the plate opening out of alinement with suchupper container with the opening movable into such alined position atwill manually.

2. An assemblage as in claim 1 characterized in that the butt end zoneof the gun carries an exposed control element for manipulating the shaftstep-by-step, with such butt end zone additionally carrying means fornormally closing the open rear ends of the series of containers withsaid means including a yieldable formation operative relative to one ofthe container open ends to thereby open communication with the latter tothereby permit re-loading of the secondary magazine containers at will.

3. An assemblage as in claim 2 characterized in that the yieldableformation is positioned for 7 activit with the -10w ermbst containerzcsfthe secondary magazine, whereby re loading of a skintainer is limited toperiods when the forward open end of the container is olosed'by theshutter mechanism.

ALBERT BLANTON. OSCAR G R 8 REFERENCES. .0192121) The following,reieljegces 9.13: rggm d 111 the file .of this patent:

UNITED'STATES PATENTS,

